Linking Literacy to Education through Open and Distance Education.

Overview & Synopsis

The National Literacy Mission Authority has begun pilot testing an innovative open distance education program for newly literate individuals in 20 districts of India. Using open and distance education where literacy is at its infancy is feasible because newly literate persons can manage to read printed material and have the motivation to read and learn. Curriculum and learning requirements are graded at three levels. The target groups include successful neo-literate persons from the Total Literacy Campaign, successful learners from nonformal education centers, and dropouts from formal primary schools and from nonformal education centers. The project's objectives are as follows: provide an alternative channel to schooling; reduce disparities in educational access, especially for girls and disadvantaged groups; increase retention rates; and provide a learning continuum. The program is composed of three to five of the following subjects at Levels A, B, and C: language, mathematics, environment, science, social sciences, and vocational. Innovative features include introduction of vocational courses at all three levels; large internal choices for learners; and multiple points of entry. Curriculum and instructional material have been developed keeping in mind the diversity of learning needs of the neo-literate population belonging to various cultural, linguistics, and rural-urban settings. A decentralized model of implementation has been adopted. (YLB)